‘Autumn Moon’ is a product of a planned breeding program that focuses on obtaining new cultivars of garden chrysanthemums in a range of flower colors that bloom late in the season after other fall mums have passed. These plants exhibit superior winter hardiness suitable for northern climates and provide much needed food for bees and beneficial insects.
‘Autumn Moon’ originated from an open pollinated cross in 2005 at Dunvegan Nursery in Coatesville, Pa. The female parent was the species Chrysanthemum indicum, a semi-double daisy form with yellow and pink ray florets, and medium upright habit. The male parent of ‘Autumn Moon’ is Chrysanthemum×koreanum ‘Sheffield’, with single flowers of pink floret color, and a well-branched habit, producing an abundant amount of pollen. ‘Autumn Moon’ was selected as one flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross in November 2005, and grown out of doors in Coatesville, Pa.
The first act of asexual reproduction of ‘Autumn Moon’ was accomplished when vegetative cuttings were propagated from the initial selection in April 2008, in a controlled environment in Coatesville, Pa.